In order to enable SPORE investigators to rapidly develop new research opportunities which could translate into early benefits for breast cancer patients, and to allow for exploration of new techniques which may require substantial efforts but which are nevertheless not ready for full scale multi-year research funding, we have devoted considerable effort and resource to this SPORE Developmental Research Program. Through the funding of pilot projects, we broaden the scope of research, and allow exploration of high-risk ideas which nevertheless have the potential for high yields in treatment, prevention, or basic biology of breast cancer. We also attract new investigators with a wide variety of special expertise to apply their expertise to problems and questions in breast cancer research, and we catalyze productive collaborations in which individual skills and approaches combine to create progress which no single investigator might achieve alone.